Yule Logs Longmans Christmas Annual for 1898

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Title: Yule Logs
Longmans' Christmas Annual for 1898

Author: Various

Editor: G. A. Henty

Release Date: June 22, 2012 [EBook #40056]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

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YULE LOGS

BEING LONGMANS'
XMAS ANNUAL FOR

1898 EDITED BY

G. A. HENTY.

YULE LOGS

"An Indian sprang up behind him."

Page 279.

Longmans' Christmas Annual for 1898

YULE LOGS

Edited by

G. A. Henty

With Sixty-one Illustrations

Longmans, Green, and Co.

39 Paternoster Row, London

New York and Bombay

1898

All rights reserved

Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson & Co.

At the Ballantyne Press

CONTENTS

PAGE

A FIGHTING MERMAID. By Kirk Munroe
1

Illustrated by Fred. T. Jane.

THE VENTURE OF THE "BERTHA" WHALER. By Henry Frith
39

Illustrated by W. H. Overend.

A FRENCHMAN'S GRATITUDE. By Lieut.-Col. Percy-Groves
74

Illustrated by J. Finnemore.

THE BADGE OF THE FOURTH FOOT. By Robert Leighton
115

Illustrated by J. Ayton Symington.

A DANGEROUS GAME. By G. Manville Fenn
155

Illustrated by C. J. Staniland.

BY DEFAULT OF THE ENGINEER. By Franklin Fox
203

Illustrated by Gordon Browne.

THE KING OF SPAIN'S WILL. By John Bloundelle-Burton
236

Illustrated by Enoch Ward.

A NEW ENGLAND RAID. By E. F. Pollard
271

Illustrated by Gordon Browne.

SIR RICHARD'S SQUIRES. By Charles W. Whistler
310

Illustrated by R. Wheelwright.

THE SLAVER'S REVENGE. By Harry Collingwood
344

Illustrated by Trevor Haddon.

ON A MEXICAN RANCHE. By G. A. Henty
383

Illustrated by H. Bird.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

"An Indian sprang up behind him"
Frontispiece

PAGE

"The strange tow, slowly making its way up the harbour"
13

"She hovered like a gigantic fish"
17

"Then two dripping figures scrambled aboard"
29

"The explosion, close under their bows, of a giant fire-cracker"
31

"The Alfonso XIX. lay in a glow of diffused light that seemed to come from beneath her very keel"
33

"Threw the whole harbour into an uproar of terror"
35

"The captain, overbalanced, dropped overboard, and disappeared in the raging sea"
43

"Hullo, my young spitfire! so you want a lesson, do you?"
47

"What are those black things, Mr. Stevens?"
54

"In the dim light two curious objects appeared"
63

"The end appeared near"
69

"I immediately ran forward to the scene of action"
77

"Our gunners hammered away at Rosetta"
85

"Very cautiously we made our way down the sand-hills"
91

"As the fog cleared off, there appeared before us the Turkish army"
97

"Our standing ranks gave them a rattling volley"
105

"I dropped senseless to the ground"
111

"Suddenly a fluttering book flew past his curly head"
117

"Turned up a rusty old claymore"
124

"Alan refused to accept this offer of friendship"
135

"Colin handed him the lantern"
146

"Neil? my brother Neil?"
151

"Whisked himself round and held his tar-kettle and brush out like a pair of balances"
160

"Rev'nue cutter," said Hezz shortly
166

"A vigorous cut divided the fishing-line"
171

"A signal! came the next moment in answer"
181

"For there below him, lit up by a few lanterns, he could make out the hull of a great lugger"
186

"Oh," he cried, "there you are, sir!"
193

"Master Lahnce, lad!" cried the old man, making a grab at the boy's hand
201

"A quiet smoke"
205

"This is a pleasant prospect"
209

"Caught a firm grip of her dress"
214

"Uttering a wild yell, rushed off towards the nearest hut"
228

"Mr. Urquhart tried the effect of the nine-pounders"
233

"Ran his finger along a map of France"
242

"We are soldiers, not——"
251

"Not so fast, mademoiselle, not so fast. What are you doing here?"
254

The Rescue
265

"A friendship that eventually ripened—"
269

"I was afraid, and hid myself in the long rushes"
273

"Quiet! Josiah Blackstone"
287

"Be on your guard"
295

"With a shout of triumph she leaped into the water"
303

"He fell forward dead in the black swamp"
307

"He came heavily to the roadside grass, where he lay stunned"
311

"Sir Richard sat in his great chair on the daïs"
315

"I know where I am not wanted, at least"
323

"She seemed to care little"
327

"The next thing I knew was that my good steed was down on his nose among the stones"
336

"We were met by a ragamuffin crowd of swarthy, black-haired, fierce-eyed ruffians"
349

"A gang of some fifty negroes appeared"
367

"Borne aloft on a sort of rude throne supported upon the shoulders of eight stalwart negroes"
371

"She waved her hand above her head by way of farewell"
375

"Before he could pull the trigger I had struck up the weapon"
380

"Horses, when required, could be lassoed"
385

"Was often away on horseback with her dogs"
389

"The great assemblage of all the cattle, known as the round up"
403

"Shot an unusually fine mountain lion"
411

"I struck Violetta sharply and she galloped off like an arrow"
418

"A loud shout burst from the bushes as he issued out"
423

A FIGHTING MERMAID

By KIRK MUNROE

Author of "The White Conquerors," "At War with Pontiac," "Through Swamp and

Glade," "With Crockett and Bowie," &c. &c.

CHAPTER I

It was a grand success. Every one said so; and moreover, every one who witnessed the experiment predicted that the
Mermaid would revolutionize naval warfare as completely as did the world-famous Monitor. Professor Rivers, who
had devoted the best years of his life to perfecting his wonderful invention, struggling bravely on through innumerable
disappointments and failures, undaunted by the sneers of those who scoffed, or the significant pity of his friends, was so
overcome by his signal triumph that he fled from the congratulations of those who sought to do him honour, leaving to
his young assistants the responsibility of restoring the marvellous craft to her berth in the great ship-house that had
witnessed her construction.

These assistants were two lads, eighteen and nineteen years of age, who were not only the Professor's most promising
pupils, but his firm friends and ardent admirers. The younger, Carlos West Moranza, was the only son of a Cuban
sugar-planter, and an American mother who had died while he was still too young to remember her. From earliest
childhood he had exhibited so great a taste for machinery that, when he was sixteen, his father had sent him to the
United States to be educated as a mechanical engineer in one of the best technical schools of that country.

There his dearest chum was his class-mate, Carl Baldwin, son of the famous American shipbuilder, John Baldwin, and
heir to the latter's vast fortune. The elder Baldwin had founded the school in which his own son was now being
educated, and placed at its head his life-long friend, Professor Alpheus Rivers, who, upon his patron's death, had also
become Carl's sole guardian.

In appearance and disposition young Baldwin was the exact opposite of Carlos Moranza, and it was this as well as the
similarity of their names that had first attracted the lads to each other. While the young Cuban was a handsome fellow,
slight of figure, with a clear olive complexion, impulsive and rash almost to recklessness, the other was a typical Anglo-
Saxon American, big, fair, and blue-eyed, rugged in feature, and slow to act, but clinging with bulldog tenacity to any
idea or plan that met with his favour. He invariably addressed his chum as "West," while the latter generally called him
"Carol."

The Rivers submarine boat, finally christened Mermaid, had been evolved during long years in the great Baldwin
shipyard located on the Delaware, less than a mile distant from the Baldwin technical school, and during his lifetime John
Baldwin had taken a deep interest in its construction. Thus Carl had been familiar with its every detail from the time that
he could remember anything, and had grown up with an abiding faith in its possibilities. That his chum was also
enthusiastic concerning it constituted one of the strongest bonds of sympathy between them. Now that its complete
success had been demonstrated by four hours of trial, during most of which time it had been manœuvred under water
with a party of six distinguished engineers on board, Carl's elation was only little less than that of the inventor, whose
very life was bound up in it. Like him, however, the lad was slow to express his deepest feelings; but the enthusiasm of
the day found ample vent through the young Cuban, who had been permitted to share in the glorious result, and who
poured forth his exultation in a torrent of words as the two lads left the shipyard and wended their way homeward.

"It is the crowning triumph of the century, my Carol, and will make immortal the name of our honoured instructor. To
have lived until this day and to be allowed a share in such glory is a vast privilege. Of war, what a revolution will be
made! Oh, if my poor country possessed but one of these marvels, how quickly would she be free! To destroy the
ships of Spain and open to the world every Cuban port! What an achievement! what honour! Carol, why may it not be
done? Why may we not take this Mermaid, and with her liberate Cuba from her centuries of slavery?"

"Because," answered Carl Baldwin slowly, "she is not ours to take, and even if she were, we would not be allowed to
use her in any such fashion. The Government would not permit us."

"But if she were ours. If the Professor would consent to allow us to attempt the experiment. If we could escape the
vigilance of the American cruisers, and manage to convey our marvel of marvels to the scene of action, would you not
join in the enterprise, my Carol? Would you not aid in striking the blow for freedom?"

"It would certainly be most interesting to test the little craft in actual service," replied the young American cautiously.

"Interesting, say you? It is of vital importance. What she has done is nothing. Who knows what she may accomplish?
When will there come another such chance for trying her in warfare? Where in the world is there a prize to be gained
equal in value to that of a free Cuba? That my father has sacrificed all but life itself for her is my proudest boast; that I
may soon fight by his side, my fondest hope. Oh, if you cold-blooded Americans could but witness the cruelty, the
oppression, the despair, the horror of it all. But, if I cannot win over my dearest friend among them, how may I hope to
persuade others? Ah, Dios! it is hard, it is bitter, it is pitiful, that but for want of a single helping hand all should be lost."

At this point the young Cuban's feelings so overpowered him that words failed to express them, and as Carl Baldwin's
policy was to remain silent during these outbursts, the lads reached the school building in which they lodged without
further conversation.

Since Carlos Moranza had left home, the affairs of his native land had come to a sorry pass. The struggle for freedom
had begun. Spanish armies devastated the fair island, killing its inhabitants, laying waste their fields, and destroying their
homes, while Spanish war-ships patrolled its coasts to cut off all outside aid from the insurgents.

The latter, devoid of nearly everything necessary for carrying on a war, save a desperate determination to resist to the
death, occupied the interior of the island, where they found impregnable strongholds amid its rugged mountains and
dense forests. The sympathies of the American people were with them, and expeditions for their relief were constantly
fitting out in the southern ports of the United States. Many of these failed to reach their destination, since international
law compelled the Government to prevent them from sailing, if possible. Thus, in addition to the Spanish fleet patrolling
the Cuban coasts, the southern waters of the United States were guarded by an equally numerous fleet of American
men-of-war and vessels of its revenue marine.

From the very outset of the war Don Cæsar Moranza, after placing his only daughter, Catina, who was two years
younger than Carlos, in what he conceived to be a safe retreat, had linked his fortunes with those who fought for liberty.
He had quickly risen to the command of a Cuban army, and, as General Moranza, the dashing cavalry leader, proved
such a terror to the Spaniards, that to capture him became an important object of their campaigns.

With all the impetuosity of his nature Carlos longed to take part in the glorious struggle, and, in every letter that he found
means of transmitting to his father, pleaded to be allowed to join him. Thus far his petitions had been denied on the
ground that he would still have ample opportunity for fighting after he had become a skilled engineer. In the meantime he
could do much for the cause where he was, and must remember that to perfect himself in his chosen profession would
be of greater value to Cuba than the winning of a battle. This stimulant was what made young Moranza one of the most
brilliant scholars in the Baldwin Polytechnic; for he felt that every problem solved was a blow struck for his country. At
the time of the Mermaid's successful trial trip, in which the young Cuban had been allowed to participate as a
distinguished reward of merit, he had received no word from his father or sister for many weeks, and so was filled with

anxiety concerning them.

As the lads reached the school they separated, Carlos proceeding directly to his room, and the other going in search of
Professor Rivers to report the safe housing of the Mermaid. The Professor was so buried in thought that for a few
moments he apparently took no notice of Carl's entrance. Suddenly, lifting his head and looking squarely at the lad, he
exclaimed—

"Yes, yes, my boy, all is well so far as we have gone, but what will she do in actual service? How will she behave in
face of an enemy? Is she capable of single-handed and successful attack against a fleet? Until these questions are
answered how may I know whether my lifework is a success or a failure? To solve them I would willingly engage a
navy in single combat; but where may I find one willing to accept my challenge?"

"Why not in Cuba, sir?" suggested Carl with a sudden inspiration.

"Cuba! Cuba!" repeated the Professor slowly, as though bewildered by the idea thus presented, and then he plunged
once more into abstracted thought.

After waiting a few moments longer, and seeing that his guardian was disinclined for further conversation just then, Carl
Baldwin departed to tell his friend of the seed he had planted. To his dismay he found Carlos standing as though
petrified, and staring with bloodshot eyes at a telegram evidently just received.

"What is it, West? What has happened?" inquired young Baldwin anxiously.

"Read that," replied the other huskily.

With this he extended the message, which was signed by the president of the Cuban Junta or War Committee, whose
headquarters were in New York City.

"General Moranza captured by treachery and shot by order of Weyler. His daughter seized, imprisoned, and held for
transportation to a penal colony. May God help you in this hour of your affliction!"

"For my father's death I grieve not," cried the young Cuban. "He died for the cause he loved, and may be avenged. But
for my sister, my own little Catina, in prison, at the mercy of those brutes, and consigned to the living death of a convict!
How may I bear it? What can I do? Tell me, my friend, for I am going mad."

"No," cried Carl Baldwin, "you shall not go mad, nor even yield to despair, for we will yet save her. The Professor shall
go with us, and we will take the Mermaid. Even now he is inclined to consider some such undertaking. And when he
reads this message he will be as ready to set forth as you or I. Oh yes, my dear fellow, we can rescue her and we will.
Instead of going to a penal colony, she shall come to this country, and be as free as you are at this moment."

As he spoke the young American seized his friend's hand, and the latter looking into the brave blue eyes, now blazing
with excitement, believed that Catina would be saved.

CHAPTER II

The submarine boat Mermaid was a cigar-shaped shell of aluminium bronze, extremely light and strong, about forty feet
in length and eight in greatest diameter. On its upper side was a small railed platform or deck, from the centre of which
rose a low turret provided with four bull's-eyes, from which an observer might glance out ahead, astern, or on either
side. Another bull's-eye was fitted into the hinged and water-tight cap that closed the turret when the boat was
submerged.

The interior of the boat was divided into three compartments. Of these, the one farthest forward was fitted with an air-
lock, through which a person wearing a diver's suit might leave the vessel while she was under water and return to her at
will. This hold was also pierced for a bull's-eye through which could be made to shine an electric search light of intense
power.

The central compartment was the living and operating room. It also contained a dynamo, an air compressor, and a small
condenser, by means of which sea-water could be made drinkable. In the after compartment was located a compact
but powerful gasoline engine. This furnished the motive power for running on the surface, and also stored electricity by
which the screw could be turned when surface air was no longer available. Beneath the floor of the central compartment
was a tank for water ballast, which could be filled or emptied at will of the operator. In all parts of the boat were
hundreds of tubes, wires, cocks, valves, and other devices of amazing ingenuity for ensuring the safety of her crew and
the discomfiture of an enemy.

She was indeed, as Carlos Moranza had said, one of the crowning scientific marvels of the century. On the day
succeeding that of her trial trip, the young Cuban was full of hope and courage, for Professor Rivers had been won to
his cause by the enticing prospect of achieving the rescue of a young girl from a dreadful fate, and at the same time
testing under most trying conditions the powers of his beloved boat. He had only stipulated that she should not be used
for the destruction of either life or property.

Thus it happened that in less than a week one of the most powerful tugs on the Delaware cleared for Havana. She had

in tow a great dumping scow, such as is used in New York harbour for conveying the city garbage far out to sea. This
scow was built with a long central pocket, the bottom of which was longitudinally divided into two parts. Each of these
was hung on massive hinges, and could be made to drop or open outward, thus allowing the contents of the pocket to
fall into the sea. Then, by means of a donkey-engine, the great valves could be drawn up and closed as before.

The question of how to get the Mermaid to Havana had proved most puzzling. She was too small to undertake such a
voyage by herself, and had she been shipped on the deck of another vessel, her every movement would have been
watched and heralded, while the success of the proposed expedition depended upon its secrecy. Thus, at the very
outset, the would-be rescuers seemed to be confronted by an insurmountable difficulty. Then Carl Baldwin had thought
of the sea-going dumping scows, several of which had been built in his father's shipyard, where one recently completed
even now awaited a purchaser.

"Why couldn't we take the Mermaid to Cuba in it?" he suggested, after several other plans had been dismissed as
impracticable.

"The very thing," cried Carlos Moranza. "In that way we could carry her right into Havana harbour, and there offer the
scow for sale to the Spaniards as a blind. It is a noble idea, my Carol, and will prove our salvation."

"It might be done," said the Professor thoughtfully. "Let us go and take some measurements."

This they did, and found that the pocket of the dumping scow was amply large to hold the Mermaid, at the same time
allowing her free egress and exit. It would even float her when closed and half filled with water. Only a few alterations
that readily suggested themselves to the Professor were needed to exactly suit the great craft to their purpose.

While he took charge of these, and Carlos took a trip to New York for consultation with the President of the Cuban
Junta, Carl Baldwin arranged for the charter of the finest sea-going tug on the Delaware, and through her captain for the
purchase of the dumping-scow.

The Professor had long since placed the practical direction of his school in the hands of able assistants, so that he was
free to leave it at a moment's notice for any length of time. Thus, when he announced that he was about to devote a few
weeks to the testing of his pet invention, and should need the assistance of his two ranking pupils, their departure was
effected without arousing undue curiosity.

The clearing of the tug, with its novel tow, for Havana, was, however, quite another thing; and, from the moment their
destination was announced, both craft were watched by Government officials and Spanish spies to see that no
contraband cargo was taken aboard. Of course nothing of the kind was found; but this did not prevent a revenue cutter
from escorting the tow down the river and across Delaware Bay until it was clear of the breakwater and well out at sea.
Finally, the cutter turned back; but even then her commander continued to watch the tow through a glass.

"In spite of their seeming innocence, I regard that as one of the most suspicious departures ever made from the
Delaware," he remarked to a lieutenant who stood beside him. "The pretence of trying to sell that scow in Havana is
only the baldest kind of a bluff. Any fool knows that those blooming Spaniards aren't going to put themselves to either
the expense or trouble of carrying garbage out to sea so long as they can dump it in their harbours. Hello! What's that?
Look quick and tell me if you don't see something between us and them."

Through the glass thrust into his hand, the lieutenant took a long and comprehensive survey of the intervening waters.

"No, sir, I don't see anything," he reported at length.

"Neither do I now," said the other after another look. "I would have sworn, though, that I saw something like a raft
moving towards that scow."

The commander had indeed caught a glimpse of the Mermaid rising to the surface to get her bearings, but she had
instantly dived, nor did she again visit the surface until safely within the shadow of the great scow.

She had run down the river the night before, and had lain behind the breakwater with only a small portion of her turret
above the surface, until the tow, with its accompanying cutter, had passed out to sea. Then she followed, with her eyes
just awash, and dove deep beneath the revenue vessel when it turned back. Upon next coming to the surface, she had
been allowed to rise a little too far, and so was very nearly discovered.

"It was a close shave," admitted Carl Baldwin, after the Mermaid was safely ensconced within the closed pocket of the
great scow; "but a safe miss is as good as a thousand miles, and now we are all right till we get to Havana."

"Don't you be too sure of that," admonished the captain of the tug gruffly. "There's many a cruiser between here and
there, and every one of 'em is sartin to board us."

So it proved. At Charleston, where the tug put in for coal, leaving her tow in the lower bay, the scow was boarded by
revenue officers, who did not leave her until she was again at sea; and all the while the poor little Mermaid was dodging
about under water, only coming up now and then for a breath and a quick glance at her surroundings, like a hunted sea-
fowl.

Off the mouth of the St. John's River, the tow was hove-to by a blank shot from a Government cruiser, and again was

the Mermaid forced to seek safety at the bottom of the sea. This time she avenged herself by rising directly beneath the
cruiser, and demonstrating to the Professor's entire satisfaction how easily he could if he chose place and fire a torpedo
that would blow her from the water.

It had been decided to touch at Key West, the most southerly extremity of Florida, as well as of the United States, and
only eighty-five miles across the Gulf Stream from Havana, and finally, after many narrow escapes from discovery, our
adventurers reached the port of that quaint island-city in safety.

Here they found several American men-of-war, a small fleet of torpedo-boats, four revenue cutters, and a Spanish
cruiser, to all of whom the strange tow, slowly making its way up the harbour, seemed an object of especial interest.
Their fame had preceded them; every one knew that they were bound for Havana, and that they had been objects of
suspicion all the way down the coast. So, before they came to anchor, they were boarded by United States officers,
and a guard was placed on both tug and scow, with orders to allow no communication between them and the shore,
except under strict surveillance.

In the meantime, the little Mermaid had sunk quietly out of sight, nor did she again rise to the surface until safely
beneath a wharf covered with freight sheds, that extended out to deep water. Here, hidden in deepest shadow, she lay
unobserved until nightfall, when our lads found no difficulty in gaining the streets of the town, leaving the Professor in
charge of his beloved boat.

As Carlos Moranza had visited Key West before, he led the way without hesitation amid throngs of promenaders,
among whom white was the rarest colour to be seen. Coal-black negroes from Jamaica, sallow-complexioned
Spaniards, swarthy Cubans, mulattoes, quadroons, octoroons, and Creoles, with faces tinted in every shade of brown
or yellow, jostled each other on the side-walks, all talking, singing, or laughing, with eager gesticulations. Electric lights
gleamed among the softly nestling leaves of tall cocoa-palms. Open carriages, bearing cigarette-smoking men in white
linen, gaudily-clad negresses, or languid Cuban women, whose only sign of animation lay in their flashing eyes, rattled
over the white pavements, while, above all, innumerable flags, displaying the blue and white stripes, the crimson field
and single white star of Cuba Libre, fluttered in the faint night breeze.

The entire city, which is wholly Cuban in sympathy, as well as two-thirds so in population, was rejoicing over the news
just received of an insurgent victory. The exulting throngs were most dense about the building occupied by an agent of
the Cuban Junta, on a balcony of which the glad tidings were being read aloud from a paper just snatched off the press,
while a guard stationed at the main entrance forbade admission, except to such persons as were of well-attested
patriotism.

"Halt! You may not pass!" cried one of these, as our lads, having forced their way through the crowd, sought to enter.

For answer Carlos Moranza spoke a few words in so low a tone that only he might hear them.

"The strange tow, slowly making its way up the harbour."

Instantly the man stood aside, touched his cap respectfully, and motioned them to enter.

As they did so, a third person attempted to pass the guard in their company, but was seized on the threshold.

"Is this hombre of your party, señor?" asked the guard.

"Certainly not," replied Carlos. "I never saw him before."

So the intruder, who was evidently of Spanish blood, was ignominiously thrust back, and as he slunk away he muttered
words that boded no good to Carlos Moranza, in case they should again meet.

In the meantime the young Cuban, accompanied by Carl Baldwin, made his way to the balcony where the agent of the
Junta had just finished reading of Garcia's victory. As Carlos touched him on the shoulder he turned quickly and
frowned at sight of a stranger. Again the lad whispered his magic formula, and in another moment the agent was
embracing him with the fervour of a life-long friendship. Then he led his guests to a private room, where for half-an-hour

he engaged Carlos in earnest conversation, of which young Baldwin could only understand an occasional word.

When our lads finally left the building and regained the street, the latter asked curiously, "What was it all about, old
man?"

"He said," replied Carlos, "that the Spanish cruiser now in port is here for the express purpose of escorting us to
Havana, and that, as soon as we are outside Key West harbour, she will place a guard on both tug and scow."

"Hm!" remarked Carl Baldwin reflectively; "we can't allow that."

"I should say not," agreed Carlos Moranza; "only I'd like to know how we are to prevent it."

"Just you leave it to me, and I'll show you the trick," rejoined the young American.

CHAPTER III

So intent were the lads upon their conversation, that they mistook another freight shed for the one beneath which the
Mermaid was hidden, and walked a few paces beside it before discovering their error. When they did so, they at once
began to retrace their steps, and in turning a corner of the building came plump upon a cloaked figure evidently on their
trail.

"Hello! what do you mean, sir, by following us?" cried Carl Baldwin, seizing the stranger's arm as he spoke.

With a muttered oath the man wrenched himself free and darted away, but not before the gleam of a street light had
revealed his features to Carlos Moranza.

"The very fellow who tried to force his way into the quarters of the Junta!" he exclaimed, "and more than likely a
Spanish spy. It is a narrow escape, my Carol, for if our blunder had not forced us to turn back, he must have
discovered the Mermaid. In that case we should indeed have met with trouble."

"Let us hasten, then, before he returns."

"I don't believe he will dare do that. He is too badly scared."

But the spy did return, and, crouching in deepest shadow, became convinced that those whose business he was so
anxious to discover had passed beneath the wharf. As he dared not attempt to follow them through the impenetrable
gloom into which they had disappeared, he sought a hiding-place, and from it watched with infinite patience for them to
again come forth.

They had, in the meantime, safely regained the snug living-room of the Mermaid, and reported all that had happened, to
the Professor. Then Carl Baldwin unfolded his scheme for delaying the Spanish cruiser in port until after their departure.

As a result, the submarine boat was allowed to drift down the harbour with the ebbing tide, until she came abreast the
great black hull of a man-of-war. Then she imperceptibly sank beneath the surface.

"She hovered like a gigantic fish."

The watch officer of the Spanish cruiser, leaning on her after-rail and gazing musingly down into the dark waters
sweeping seaward, speculated idly concerning the stream of phosphorescent light tailing out from under her counter, but
thought of it only as a natural phenomenon. Had he known that it was caused by the motion of the Mermaid's propeller
necessary to hold her in position against the stream while she hovered like a gigantic fish directly above the screw of his
ship, how easily could he have won the promotion for which he longed. But he suspected nothing; and as Carl Baldwin,
working from the diving chamber of the submarine craft, had succeeded in fastening one end of a short length of stout
wire rope to the propeller blade, and shackling the other to a ring-bolt in the massive rudder, the officer turned with a
sigh and walked away.

On the following morning the Spanish spy, weary and cramped with his long vigil, was amazed to see an utter stranger
emerge cautiously from beneath the wharf he had been watching, and walk quickly away. For a moment the spy was

undecided as to whether he should follow this person or seek to discover where he had come from. Then choosing the
former course, he followed Professor Rivers at a respectful distance, until he had the vast satisfaction of seeing him
meet, near the custom-house, the captain of the tug that was avowedly bound for Havana.

There was a connection then between those who hid beneath the wharf and the suspected tow anchored in the harbour.
Undoubtedly a store of contraband goods was concealed under the wharf, and an effort would be made to convey
them on board the tug before she sailed. What a reward was in prospect for him could he but discover it!

A little later the spy, with two companions, all armed, occupied a skiff that made its way cautiously through the dark
spaces beneath the wharf he had watched so long. Suddenly between them and the outer daylight two men appeared
one after the other. Both slid down one of the piles supporting the pier and dropped into the water, or at least the
exulting spy thought they did so as he hastily urged his boat in that direction.

To his amazement and disgust, when he reached the spot where they had disappeared, he could discover no trace of
them. Neither was there a boat or a hiding-place into which they could have gone. The man was furious at being thus
baffled, and uttered many a fierce Spanish oath. Finally, convinced that further search in that direction was fruitless, he
pulled out into the harbour to watch the mysterious tow that still lay at anchor. As he drew near to it he saw its captain
come off from shore alone. Then the guard from one of the revenue cutters was withdrawn, anchors were lifted, and the
tow began to move slowly down the channel. It was certain that no one save the captain had gone aboard, nor had any
cargo been taken in except a few tons of carefully examined coal.

Never in his life had the spy been so puzzled and disappointed; but it was a slight consolation to know that Spain's
vigilant cruiser would accompany the Gringos to Havana. Even now was the black-hulled warship preparing to follow
the departing tow. As the massive anchor broke away from the bottom, her great screw began to churn the water, and
she slowly forged ahead. Suddenly her screw ceased to act, she took a sheer in the wrong direction, there was a vast
amount of confusion on her decks, and in another minute she was fast aground on a bank of the narrow channel. Every
eye in Key West harbour was fixed upon her, and before any one again thought of the departing tow, it had gained the
high seas, and was beyond the jurisdiction of either Spain or "Uncle Sam." A little later, with the saucy Mermaid safely
hidden in the ample receptacle of the great dumping scow, the tow had vanished in the direction of Havana.

That night the spy boarded a swift passenger steamer bound for the same port, which at sunrise of the following
morning passed beneath the frowning walls of Moro Castle in company with the tow he had come to watch.

The Mermaid retained her berth even after a pilot had boarded the tug, and her crew looked eagerly upon the
wonderfully beautiful scene unfolding before them as they passed through a narrow entrance into the broad, landlocked
harbour of Havana.

Carl Baldwin, to whom everything was excitingly novel, viewed with delight the grim Moro with its tall lighthouse tower,
the white Cabanas fortress, the tinted, flat-roofed buildings of the city across the placid basin, the quaint cathedral
spires, and the thousand other curious features of Spain's chief stronghold in the New World.

Carlos Moranza, filled with conflicting emotions at again approaching his native land under such strange conditions,
gazed in silence, but as though hoping with the very intensity of his vision to pierce the crowding walls and discover the
prison of his beloved sister.

Professor Rivers had eyes only for the warships, of which the harbour held half-a-dozen, as he speculated upon the
ease with which his little Mermaid could humble their pride and render them powerless.

At this very moment the Spanish spy was regarding, and triumphantly recognising, all three of the Americans through a
glass levelled at them from the deck of the steamer on which he was a passenger. Thus it happened that, as the captain
of the tug was preparing to go ashore and make formal entry at the custom-house, after having successfully passed
examination by both health officers and port authorities, two barges filled with soldiers dashed out from the mole and
headed directly towards the new arrivals. One of these took possession of the tug, while the other, in which sat the
exulting spy, ranged alongside the dumping scow.

For nearly an hour the soldiers searched every compartment and corner of the two vessels, even overhauling the coal in
the tug's bunkers. When there was no longer an unexplored crevice, even the spy was forced to confess that there was
no person aboard unaccounted for in the tug's papers, and that he must have laboured under a delusion as to what he
had seen. He was bewildered, mortified, and angry, and was rendered furious by the ridicule heaped upon him by the
officer to whom he was obliged to report his failure to discover anything that would justify a seizure of the tug.

This craft the Spaniards would have been glad to possess, but when its captain went ashore and announced his desire
to dispose of the dumping scow, the authorities only laughed at him, and referred him to General Weyler, who
happened at that time to be absent with an expedition to the interior. This was gratifying information, as it afforded an
excuse for remaining in Havana harbour until he should return.

In the meantime the Mermaid, having sunk out of sight on the approach of danger, had found safe refuge under the
stern of a Spanish man-of-war that was moored close at hand. Here she received a supply of fresh air through a flexible
tube, one end of which was supported on the surface of the water by a small float. During the time that her occupants
were thus compelled to remain in hiding, they amused themselves by so wedging the rudder of the warship as to render

it immovable.

With the earliest twilight of that evening they returned to the tug and held a short consultation with her captain, who had
used his eyes to such good purpose while on shore that he was enabled to direct them to a place from which he
believed they could gain the city streets. This was most important, for though in the darkness they might have landed
anywhere along the quay, they would still have been shut off from the streets by a tall and stout iron fence, the gates of
which were always guarded, and at sunset locked for the night. This is in accordance with a regulation that not only
forbids any vessel to enter or leave the port of Havana between sunset and sunrise, but also prohibits all communication
between the city and its harbour during the night.

The place indicated by the captain was a dock in which lay a number of fishing craft, and the entrance to which was
closed by iron gates. As it was not likely that these extended very far below the surface, it was possible that the
Mermaid might pass beneath them. This proved to be the case; for when, after a long search and several narrow
escapes from discovery, the dock was reached, the Mermaid managed to squeeze under the barrier, and when she
next rose to the surface she was inside the city lines. Here she remained with her deck just awash, and in charge of the
Professor, while the two lads, filled with hopeful excitement, set forth in search of information that should guide their
future action.

CHAPTER IV

The part of the city in which our lads found themselves was dark and deserted, save for an occasional soldier pacing a
lonely beat and a few slouching figures that seemed trying to avoid observation. At the suggestion of Carlos they kept
the middle of the ill-paved streets, for in Havana no one uses the narrow side-walks at night. To do so would be to
invite a knife-thrust from the first dark pasadizo. Even in the more open spaces that they sought, each lad kept a hand
in the pocket containing his revolver, and they took care not to allow any person to approach them closely from behind.

At length they came to a region of plazas and lighted thoroughfares, in which they encountered ever-increasing numbers
of beggars and soldiers. The former were pitiable objects, horribly emaciated by the starvation which Spain was
deliberately inflicting on her rebellious subjects, while most of the soldiers were mere boys, ill-fed, poorly clad, and
wasted by sickness, but well armed and insolent to all save their own officers. These latter, who swaggered by in noisy,
cigarette-smoking groups, seemed the only well-fed persons in the city, as well as the only ones who still found life
worth the living. They stared impudently at our lads, and more than one, recognising Carl Baldwin as an American,
treated him to insulting epithets, most of which he fortunately failed to understand.

Not knowing whom they might question, or even address with safety, the young adventurers finally turned into the
brilliantly-lighted café of the Pasaje, where they hoped to gain some guiding clew from chance bits of conversation. The
place was so crowded that for several minutes they failed to find vacant seats at any of the little tables scattered about
the floor. At length they secured two that had just been vacated, and slipped into them. Two other seats at the same
table were occupied by a supercilious-looking Spanish officer and a fashionably-attired civilian. The former, with an
expression of deepest hatred cast toward Carl Baldwin, slowly rose, reversed his chair with a loud scraping on the
marble pavement that attracted general attention, and reseated himself with his back turned squarely toward the young
American. The latter had suspected the nature of the insulting epithets applied to him in the streets, but had been unable
to reply to them on account of his limited knowledge of Spanish. With enforced silence his anger had smouldered until
now, when it broke into a sudden fierce heat. Acting upon the impulse of the moment, he lifted his own chair, planted it
in front of the Spaniard, deliberately reoccupied it, and stared his enemy full in the face, but without uttering a word.

As Carlos Moranza realised his companion's intention, he started towards him, but was detained by the fourth man who
had been seated at the table, and who whispered hurriedly—

"Fly for your life, amigo, while there is yet time. For a Moranza to be arrested in Havana means sure and speedy
death."

"But I cannot leave my friend," gasped the young Cuban, bewildered at being thus promptly recognised where he
believed himself to be unknown.

"He will only suffer imprisonment. They dare not kill him. His Government is too powerful."

For a moment Carlos Moranza hesitated. Then his resolution was taken.

"I cannot desert him," he cried; and, gaining the place where Carl Baldwin sat, he grasped his arm with the intention of
dragging him from the café. At this, the officer, who had cowered irresolute beneath his adversary's unflinching gaze,
clapped a hand to his sword and attempted to rise. In an instant the young American had thrust him back with such
force that the frail chair crashed beneath him, and the uniform of Spain was rolled ignominiously in the dust.

Then, without regarding the man further, or noticing the other inmates of the café, who were thronging towards them,
Carl turned to his friend, saying—

"I don't think I like this place, West. Isn't there some other in which we might be just as happy?"

"Yes, yes, come quick," replied Carlos, starting towards the street as he spoke; but it was too late, for at that moment a

file of soldiers appeared in the doorway. They were led by the Spanish spy who had followed our friends from Key
West, and who had been sitting in the Café Pasaje brooding over the futility of his attempts to apprehend them when the
two lads unsuspectingly entered it.

"There they are! Seize them!" he now cried exultingly, and the obedient soldiers rushed forward.

With all the latent fury of his nature aroused and blazing from his blue eyes, the young Anglo-Saxon American fought
single-handed the minions of Spain. Two of them fell like logs beneath crashing blows from his fists. Two more were
hurled breathless to right and left. The others hesitated, and even shrunk before him as with a cry of "Come on, West!"
he dashed toward the doorway. At that moment some one flung a chair before him. He tripped over it, staggered
wildly, and then measured his length on the pavement with half-a-dozen Spanish soldiers on his back.

When next he was allowed to regain his feet, he was helplessly bound and being marched away to prison, together with
Carlos Moranza, who was in the same unhappy plight. Even then the spirit of the young American was unsubdued; and,
in defiance of his enemies, he raised a cry on gaining the street that he felt certain was as good Spanish as it was English.

"Cock-a-doodle-doo!" he shouted, with all the breath left in him.

"Silencio, Gringo!" growled the nearest soldier, at the same time striking his prisoner full in the mouth with the flat of his
hand.

For a wonder, Carl Baldwin retained sufficient wisdom to accept the blow without a word, though, had he known the
full value of his outcry, he might have been tempted to repeat it.

A crowd had already gathered in front of the café, and from it instantly arose answering shouts, in tones indicating both
derision and amazement, of "El gallo! El canto del gallo!"

Carlos Moranza wondered how his friend had obtained a knowledge of the Junta's defiant password for the current
month, since even to him it had only been revealed under promise of a strict secrecy that he had not broken. He had
used it but once, and then the whispered "Canto del gallo" had instantly admitted him to the presence of the Junta's
agent in Key West. No matter, though, how Carl had discovered it, he was justified in using it under the circumstances,
for it might raise friends to their assistance, if, indeed, there were any within hearing who understood its hidden meaning.
Thus thinking, the young Cuban also uplifted his voice in a ringing "Canto del gallo."

At sound of this second note of defiance, the Spanish spy, with a malediction upon the gallipollo, sprang towards the
lad, but, ere he could strike a blow, some one in the crowd hurled a paving-stone that stretched him senseless on the
ground. As though this were a signal, the mob, led by a tall man in the dress of a carbonero or charcoal-burner, rushed
upon the slender file of soldiers, and swept it irresistibly before them.

A few moments of pandemonium—shots, yells, screams of pain, cries of exultation, a crash of flying missiles, the
ominous clatter of a cavalry patrol galloping down the street, and then all was over. The mob melted away like a puff of
smoke, leaving only a few innocent and inoffensive citizens to be cut down by the sabres of the troopers. The prisoners
who had caused the outbreak had also disappeared, and when the Spanish spy, slowly regaining his senses, became
aware of this fact, he gnashed his teeth with rage.

Our lads were in the meantime dragged at top speed through a labyrinth of narrow streets and dark alleys, until,
breathless and bewildered, they finally found themselves in a dimly-lighted room, surrounded by a group of those who
had effected their release. One of these severed the cords binding their arms with two blows of a dirk-like machete, and
said in reassuring tones—

"Fear nothing, señors; you are with friends, sworn to aid all who suffer in the cause of Cuba. Tell us, then, who you are,
whence you come, and how it happens that you possess the most secret password of the Junta."

"I," replied the young Cuban boldly, for to him alone of the two was this address intelligible, "am Carlos Moranza, son
of——"

Here the lad was interrupted by a great cry from one of his auditors, and in another instant he was folded in a close
embrace by the carbonero who had led the mob to the rescue.

"Carlos, my son! my own brave boy! do you not know your father?" cried the man, half-sobbing, half-laughing in the
excitement of his discovery.

"Father! my father! can it be?" screamed Carlos, staring wildly at the man. "It is indeed his voice; but without hearing it I
should never have known him. But, father, they told me you were shot, and I have mourned you as dead."

"I was indeed captured and condemned to be shot, but managed to escape," replied General Moranza. "And I should
have joined you in the land of freedom ere this, but for Catina."

"What of her?" inquired the young Cuban eagerly. "Is she still alive and well? I heard that she was a prisoner,
condemned to Africa, and am here to effect her release, if it be not too late."

"The child is indeed an inmate of the vile Jacoba, and sentenced to transportation in a ship that will sail on the morrow,"
replied the General. "This I learned but an hour since from Don Estevan."

"Now I know," interrupted Carlos. "It was also he who gave me warning in the café."

"'Twas to meet him, who is a true friend of the cause," continued the other, "that I lingered near the Pasaje, and so was
on hand to rescue from Weyler's clutches those who appealed for aid with the password of the Junta."

"Yes," laughed Carlos, "the 'Canto del gallo' of my friend, who yet declares that he knew nothing of its secret value, did
us a fine service; but of Catina, my father, what more have you to tell?"

"Nothing, my son; all efforts to rescue her have been made in vain, and on the morrow the little one will sail away for
ever. I have lacked two things—a demonstration of sufficient magnitude to attract...